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Actually 1982 and 1983 Mid Atlantic on the WWE Network might be worth a watch if you ever do NWA legacy series and cover starrcade 83...the locker room is incredible...the best of Sgt Slaughter you'll ever see, there's Barry Windham...but a lot more of Steamboat..and I know how you guys like goofing on him....Piper does brilliant, brilliant heel work in this time...and it's Ole Anderson's true greatness when the Andersons were a thing before the horsemen is worth unearthing..

Unfortunately, we are on hiatus this semester, as I try to write my dissertation, job materials, and send out job applications. I hope we'll be back in December, but that will depend on the powers that be at LOPR.

Fellas - in hopes that this thread will have plenty of activity very soon I thought I would share something - I’ve been watching Raw (and most PPVs) from mid NewGen era and am now in summer 1997 heading towards the Screwjob. Gotta say the Undertaker had quite the Stingesque run of getting betrayed by partners. In some cases he should have seen these betrayals coming a mile away. I guess we can chalk that up to one more thing they “have in common”

There's so much I'd love to unearth from that era. That Sting and Undertaker have more in common than a penchant for wearing black would be interesting indeed. Unfortunately there's still no timeline on our return, but very hopeful we will return to the series at some point!

That Sting-Undertaker comparison is interesting. I've never followed Undertaker closely, so he will be interesting to look at in time. I probably know his earliest days best, maybe 90-95 or 97.

I am way behind on dissertation and job search. I won't know anything until maybe April. I'm hoping around that time I will know if I can jump back in or not.

It's more difficult for me to jump back in when it's WWF. I know there will be a great deal of things to love, but I so *needed* to reconnect with WCW and to attempt narratives not so overwrought by horrible places such as WWE, that I couldn't *not* do WCW. It's more difficult for me to build that same level momentum for WWF.

Also looking at WWE Network and perhaps there should one day be a special WCW Saturday Night, April 1992-January 1993, TLS special series.

Currently watching Brian Pillman vs. Brad Armstrong. I believe Armstrong is way underrated and was worthy of a push that simply never came.

In spite of my distaste for his commentary and some of the BS stories there are out there about Tony Schiavone I decided to give his podcast a listen - shockingly, I don’t hate it. Figured listening to a show that he was probably uncomfortable with, Heatwave 1998 would help prove my assumption that I would fucking hate the podcast, but listening to him watch this ostensibly for the first time and give sincere feedback makes him sound almost human.

I like this conversation, because, during winter break, I've been on a binge of Something to Wrestle, 83 Weeks, and WHW, in that order.

I think I was most captivated by StW, because I've always thought not much about Vince McMahon or WWF made any good sense. So I listened to figure out why decisions were made, and it seems that, a lot of times, I was right. Vince just likes something or he doesn't. And it changes by the week. And when he likes it it's the greatest thing ever and when he doesn't he has no use for it. That show was really interesting when it was eras I like (80s/90s), but once I got used to the patterns and answers and most of the era I liked was listened to, I lost interest.

Then I tried 83 Weeks. Bischoff, for me, is the least interesting. He doesn't remember anything. He was far more on the business side than the creative. It's like listening to someone who has amnesia. Mostly a waste of my time.

Tony is back in wrestling, and I think he has been humbled a bit. He rode pretty high with WCW. After, he could leave wrestling and owed nobody anything. Now he's back in, working MLW, doing the podcast. I could be wrong because I don't know him well, but I think this is the only time of his life where he could/would sit down and talk as openly and honestly as he's doing.

The hard part for me, which I can't fully explain, is that I listen to these podcasts all day, and I'm angry at the end. Partly it's Prichard defending Vince all the time, parroting the company line even when he's not there. Easily, in 83 Weeks, it's "If this asshole had paid attention, if he had actually cared about anything, if he understood that not every superstar has to be bought/they can actually be developed, then maybe WCW wouldn't have been fucked like it was."

Plus, all that people seem to like is the arguing with Conrad, the contentious moments, etc.

For me, that's fun for five minutes, but it's like these insiders are so goddamned jaded and they so rarely have stories where they sit back and talk about something they loved. Maybe that's what makes a fan a mark? That they actually care about the product. But I leave some of these shows with such a bleak feeling. Maybe, of three, Tony's is the least of that. I've not listened to enough of his shows. But I have listened to enough of the others to know.